UK Bookmakers have presented a secretive research that had been funded by the gambling industry, warning of the negative impact that the planned gambling clampdown would have on the industry. The report, which has been prepared for the betting industry by KPMG, is confidential but The Times claimed they had seen it. According to the information presented by the daily national newspaper, the report says that if introduced, the new rules related to responsible gambling in the country would lead to closure of half of the UK bookmakers. This, on the other hand, would lead to massive lay-offs in the industry, resulting in 20,000 jobs losses.
There have been controversial discussions concerning fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in the country for some time now. The FOBTs have been considered as one of the major causes for problem gambling behaviour due to their addictiveness, allowing punters to place wagers of as high as £100 every 20 seconds. According to Members of Parliament, the decision to reduce the maximum stake to £2 would minimise the negative effects of problem gambling.
Over the last few months of 2016, the British regulatory authorities have announced that further measures were planned to be taken in terms of the negative impact of the fixed-odds betting machines across the UK. A number of new measures would be taken, including a ban on daytime TV adverts and, most importantly, a reduction of the stakes allowed on FOBTs. The country’s Government has also been reported to have been preparing to launch a review of the bookmaking industry in the UK.
Bookmakers have initiated a special research, according to which it is exactly the above-mention decision that could lead to the closure of a large number of local bookmakers and result in massive lay-offs in the industry. The operators reported that such redundancies would cost the nation’s Treasury about £1 billion in tax by 2020.
Apart from the thousands of jobs that would be put at risk, local bookmakers also alarmed that the new regulatory measures would have a devastating effect on the UK racing industry, with the latter missing out about £100 million in tax contributions.
The attitude towards the fixed-odds betting machines has been quite controversial lately. Local regulatory authorities have been seriously criticising the negative effects of the FOBTs, with the latter even being described as the “crack cocaine of gambling”.
The National Health Service (NHS) has reported that currently there are approximately 600,000 players who suffer from problem gambling behaviour in the country. Other reports, such as the one presented by GamCare, a charity aimed at dealing with problem gambling in the country, claim that the number of people treated for such addictions increased by 24% in 2016 alone, with the FOBTs being the reason which was most commonly cited.
- Author
Daniel Williams
